Displaced Businesses Revisit Leases
Amid Search for New Office Space

By

Sheila Muto and

Patrick Barta Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal

Updated Sept. 24, 2001 12:01 a.m. ET

The destruction of the World Trade Center and the resulting damage to surrounding buildings have prompted many commercial and residential tenants in the area to look at a document that they rarely thought much about: the lease agreement.

Under the law, walking away may be an easy proposition for residential tenants displaced by the destruction of the World Trade Center, since most are entitled to break their lease agreements if they...